InRaged you have singlehandedly changed my mind about the Colossus with those gifs. I came in here perfectly content with their laser attack, but those bomb gifs (particularly the second one you posted) make the unit so much better in many ways.
The cool thing about it, is if Blizzard wanted to they could impliment that animation without even changing the damage mechanics it currently uses (the bomb attack could do similar damage in a similar way as the laser attack). Additionally, it really makes the unit so unique. The initial colossus + laser design is quite similar to a number of sci-fi creations, but the only thing really similar to the bomb-style is actually the reaver which makes it a perfect lore-companion and incredibly unique unit. And on top of that, if they wanted to mess around with it, they'd have a lot of cool and interesting new mechanic options, some of which were already laid out: delayed explosions, spread out or targeted bombs vs always same pattern, quick fire bombs, etc.
I can't believe I never thought about that sooner. Bombs make so much more sense... they make it seem like a natural evolution the Reaver unit, make it a very unique design, and even make the current laser-using mobs (there is an air and a ground one if I'm not mistaken) more unique as a result. I so rarely argue against Blizzard's design choices, but this is one style that I really hope they get in the game.
Looking very cool but feels possibly imba. And if nerfed too much, there will be a lacking feeling. But still, thumbs up.
Suggestions to play with: Bombs may be just a ball of psi energy built up by the lasers. Maybe a second cooldown after bombs' appearance. Maybe allow Colossus to drop bombs in multiple directions.
I liked the lasers to some extent. However in watching that battle report that blizzard just posted, there was one fight which involved colossi and hellions in addition to a bunch of other units on both sides. We were a good 10 seconds into the fight before I even realized there were zealots engaged. They were completely hidden by colossus lasers and hellion flames.
Blizzard needs to keep colossus in over the reaver because they want to show off the cool unit and this new physics, ie. new IK technology. Basically it's just the legs animation of the colossus stepping up and down terrains. I mean I don't mind the colossus but its current implementation is just kind of forced. I'm sure they are great support units but what's the point of being able to climb up and down cliffs if you can't do harass? They need to be able to 1 shot drones if they stick with its current implementation, I mean the laser misses all the time if you aren't at the perfect angle. I can't call these colossus "powerful" as blizzard loves to call them. They were pretty worthless for all the times protoss used them in the battle report, far from cost efficient(especially the time when it had free shots at scvs).
From a recent update on Starcraft2.com, the colossus animation isn't very distracting at all. It dissapears very quickly and is pretty subtle for a laser beam.
I was playing world in conflict the other day and got an idea for an improvement to the colossus attack, regardless of animation. Personally the horizontal beam didn't mean much to me, it was more the lack of control. In world in conflict, you had special artillery which was called by clicking a starting location then dragging out the beam. What if you could apply this concept to the colossus? maybe keep a horizontal beam as the standard attack but you have the ability to control the beam in that way, direct it over the battlefield in front of you.
I feel like what blizzard is aiming for with the colossus is kind of like a lurker unit, except it does a line of damage parallel to the target rather than towards the target. this means it should attack a line of units head on rather than from the side, meaning its ideal position in a battle would be behind a line of zealots rather than say, trying to flank from the side as one should do with lurkers.
a lot of the ideas in this section seem too focused on the looks and not realizing you are taking out a lot of the micro dynamics away from both side playing.
I feel like what blizzard is aiming for with the colossus is kind of like a lurker unit, except it does a line of damage parallel to the target rather than towards the target. this means it should attack a line of units head on rather than from the side, meaning its ideal position in a battle would be behind a line of zealots rather than say, trying to flank from the side as one should do with lurkers.
a lot of the ideas in this section seem too focused on the looks and not realizing you are taking out a lot of the micro dynamics away from both side playing.
I think the idea of microing parallel lines and moving beams just to get 3 random hits on a whole worker line is part of the problem, so I'd say changing the looks to some psi/laser-splosion that has some aoe to it is part of the solution. Honestly, you put both reavers and collossi in shuttles, they're both slow, one can walk up cliffs but takes air dmg as a result, the other doesn't, one does some weak ass laser that can only kill a lot of workers if they're all in a line and he gets 2-3 beams off, the other needs only an instant out of the shuttle to kill every worker caught in a big radius (and from further away). Which would you prefer?
On November 23 2008 02:34 sushiman wrote: The attack now just looks lame. I loved the old one, and the fact that it used both its lances instead of just one like now. A different AoE attack would probably be best. Either a zigzagging move with both beams, or a single concentrated impact with AoE similar to that of a siege tank.
Thats why i feel the world in conflict Idea would be cool. It not only gives the player more control and makes the look of the beam more natural and fluid, but it is definitely an outlet for unit micro. But it might have to do enough damage so that people would take the time to control it. If the attack cant kill anything anyway then why bother...
I feel like what blizzard is aiming for with the colossus is kind of like a lurker unit, except it does a line of damage parallel to the target rather than towards the target. this means it should attack a line of units head on rather than from the side, meaning its ideal position in a battle would be behind a line of zealots rather than say, trying to flank from the side as one should do with lurkers.
a lot of the ideas in this section seem too focused on the looks and not realizing you are taking out a lot of the micro dynamics away from both side playing.
I think the idea of microing parallel lines and moving beams just to get 3 random hits on a whole worker line is part of the problem, so I'd say changing the looks to some psi/laser-splosion that has some aoe to it is part of the solution. Honestly, you put both reavers and collossi in shuttles, they're both slow, one can walk up cliffs but takes air dmg as a result, the other doesn't, one does some weak ass laser that can only kill a lot of workers if they're all in a line and he gets 2-3 beams off, the other needs only an instant out of the shuttle to kill every worker caught in a big radius (and from further away). Which would you prefer?
the person microing the colossus in the video was a noob. if he had a reaver, it would have been even worse. i doubt that little sequence is a good display of colossus micro or what the colossus can do when used correctly.
first off, he didn't position his colossus right to get maximum hits. he didn't have nearly the amount of apm to do that. you should keep in mind that colossus recharge shield while in the shuttle. the shuttle also recharges shields very very quickly. without mutalisks, taking those down is a bitch.
Maybe they should add the ability to toggle the attack mode of the Collosus between the current line-sweeping laser to something more useful for taking out workers.
on topic: the original lasers aren't bad, and tbh i don't find the animation that bad either... though i am totally open to other possibilities such as the quintuple scarab chucking colossus which looks pretty awesome too
Arent you supposed to fly your nullifier in and use stasis block to block off worker exit routes before you bring up the colossi to start lasering?
If Blizzard doesnt add ingenius ways to use single units it may be up to the players to pull off effective things by using units in combination. Cause currently i dont see colossus killing anything by itself.
I don't even think the animation is bad, but the entire firing makes little sense. We got a big robot here, and all i can do is fire from right to left? When there's 2 workere behind each other, it can't even change the direction, nor can it stop moving the laser when there's only 1?
I know that may not be the idea behind the unit, but such a huge unit which fires in such a stupid way deserves little awe. When melee units approach the thing it looks completely lost. I would personally propose hitting the same area of effect, but all at the same time. The primary target would then be at the center of the aoe.
EPT
